This+I+Believe

Brett -

From Meg - Here's the link so you can submit this to NPR radio. []

The third stanza is amazing! Please submit this as an entry. Perhaps we'll hear you on the radio!

This I Believe By Michele Guiol

It is difficult for me to write about what I believe in. I haven’t had many positive experiences in my life as of late. So I will write about what I don’t believe. It may come as a shock to those who know me. People see me as a cheerful, fun, and positive person. I laugh a lot. I tell a lot of jokes. Typically, when people ask me how I am, I enthusiastically respond that I am “great!” I avoid dealing with personal issues because I’m afraid that if I acknowledge my feelings, or vocalize them, I will get lost. So with this, the cheerful cynic will begin.

I do believe in God. But I don’t believe that God has his ethereal “finger” on everyone’s pulse. I believe that God, through the course of evolution, just sat back and let nature and the environment have its way with us humans. I believe we are aimlessly and randomly placed onto this earth, and that we are left to make our own way. I don’t believe that God has the time to pay attention to each and every one of us on this harsh and brutal planet. I don’t believe that God “has a plan” for us. I get tired of hearing how He has a plan and that we aren’t given more than we can handle. I just believe that life happens purely by chance and by choice. I believe this, and nothing more.

I prefer this method of belief because it makes more sense to me. God our Father has given us free will and all the tools to make our way in life. If there is a defect in character, a handicap, or any other flaw, then they are purely coincidental. There is no rhyme, no reason. God does exist for me; he’s just not the God I was introduced to as a child. I like my God better. He has given me the opportunity to fail, to fear, to struggle, to fall, and this has made me who I am today. I don’t have to like who I am, and I don’t have to listen to false sentiments. I choose my own way.